Install Android to breathe new life into your HP TouchPad

Share This article

Whether you bought a TouchPad at a firesale price after HP abandoned ship (like me), or for full price after being impressed by WebOS (like my mom), you’re probably getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of applications and HP’s abandoning of the platform. Unless you’re running Android, that is. Increasingly slick and almost fully functional versions of Android are now running on the TouchPad, making it competitive with many current tablets. In this article we’ll give you some advice on how to get started and what to expect if you decide to jump from WebOS to Android on your TouchPad. Otherwise you may be stuck relegating your TouchPad to the role of an overpriced appliance.

Is Android right for you?

Anyone with a TouchPad is certainly a candidate for Android. As application support for WebOS lags further behind both Android and iOS, and with the open-sourced future of the popular WebOS platform in doubt, Android provides a stable alternative with hundreds of thousands of applications. Even better, most of the solutions for running Android on the TouchPad actually make it a multi-boot device, so you can still boot WebOS if and when you need it.

Keeping in mind those benefits, the conversion is not without challenges. It requires some fiddling with unusual installation tools — at least the first time you do it — and then relying on user-supported “hacked” Android ROMs to keep your tablet running. In theory you can brick your tablet (make it unusable), by doing the conversion wrong, but in practice the TouchPad has recovery failsafes that make this almost impossible. Holding down the Power and Home keys together for 10-30 seconds will almost always reset the device, for example. If you have previously flashed custom ROMs on an Android phone or tablet, most of the process — except for the initial steps — will be familiar to you.

So if you’re willing to diligently follow a set of detailed instructions and aren’t afraid of surfing sites full of usually friendly hackers looking for solutions to any issues you run into, Android may be right for you. If you haven’t already bought a TouchPad and are considering taking advantage of the low prices on a used one, make sure and read the caveats.

What’s involved and getting started

The trickiest steps in the process of adding Android to your TouchPad involve loading all the utilities which need to be installed first. On your Windows, Mac, or Linux computer — there is much more support for performing these steps from Windows but it is not the only option — you start by ensuring you have Java installed and then installing the Novacom tool from Palm (the creators of WebOS purchased by HP). The tutorials below will then show you how to use Novacom to download ACMEInstaller (short for A Cyanogen Mod Experimental Installer), which in turn is used to install Moboot — a bootloader for your TouchPad. Along with Moboot, ACMEInstaller can install CWM — the ubiquitous Clockwork Mod Recovery software needed for system maintenance, along with a CyanogenMod ROM version, and an appropriate version of Gapps — versions of Google’s core applications (Gmail, Music, and so on) designed to run on the TouchPad.

This is a lot of software, and involves following quite a few steps, but very detailed instructions for installing CM9 (ICS version of CyanogenmMod) on your TouchPad make it fairly straightforward as long as you pay attention to the order in which things are done. Links to the needed software are either in the tutorial or can be found on RootzWiki and XDA-Developers. If you prefer to watch, there is also this video which walks you through the process.

Tagged In

Post a Comment

Anonymous

I threw the 4/22 nightly onto my Touchpad last Friday and it made a HUGE improvement over the original alpha 2 release that was on it. Still no camera or microphone support, but everything else is running a lot more smoothly — and I can even use the Chrome browser beta for half an hour or so before it force-closes.

The only time I need to boot to webOS is to watch Amazon video… I still can’t do that on Android.

http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal

I’ve definitely had production software that didn’t work as well as the CM9 “alpha quality” nightlies.

Like you I’ve also had issues with “rental” videos both on my TP & an older gTab. Google video gets whiny about rooting & downloading, and Amazon hasn’t wanted to work either, although I haven’t tried it recently. Thanks for the tip that it works on WebOS. I could always boot to that. Do they have a player for WebOS, or do you do it using the web browser?

tbetz

I use the web browser.

savak769

How strange…. I am running alpha 2 on my Touchpad and I am able to watch movies from my Amazon Prime acct. I haven’t try nightlies because I am happy with it at least until they iron out the issues with camera and microphone.

tbetz

My big problem is that fullscreen video doesn’t work – it plays audio in a black screen. It works fine under webOS, though.

Anonymous

I have been using CM9 on my touchpad for a couple of months now. Aside from a little bit of alpha jankiness it is a dream to use. Chrome alone is worth the effort.

http://twitter.com/ltgjamaica Liguanea Technology

If android provides a suitable experience on the HP Tablet then based on the EOL sale HP could potentially try to market a 100 dollar tablet PC. I think most would find a 100 dollar android tablet from an established manufacturer very attactive.

True enough, except the teardown (linked in the article for reference) came up with a parts cost of over $300, so it’ll be awhile before $100 will work for anyone financially.

http://profile.yahoo.com/GOQEIGS5YNFKZG7GCBBBWXXKRM Christopher

Does anyone know how to do this to the Blackberry Playbook?? Andriod would make all the difference because right now iys little more than a paperweight

Anonymous

It’s”breathe new life”.

http://www.mrseb.co.uk/ Sebastian Anthony

Thanks! fixed.

http://www.mrseb.co.uk/ Sebastian Anthony

Thanks! fixed.

http://profile.yahoo.com/MYIUDNV4A4ASSJEOMQI7GHFXRI Jeff

Weren’t there instances of Touchpads shipping with Android-only OS? I’d like to do that with my TP – I like WebOS but since it’s been abandoned I’d like to go whole-hog Android. Anyone doing anything like that?

http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal

Jeff–I hadn’t heard of Touchpads shipping with only Android, but you can certainly do that if you want. WebOS is pretty much harmless once you set the default boot option to Android in a multiboot configuration. You don’t even notice it and it doesn’t take up much room.

There are also a couple Palm/HP utilities that run under WebOS which can be helpful for some system management tasks (although I’ve never had to use one), so some folks leave it around for that reason.

There are instructions on how to kill it off if you really want to, but I’m not sure you’d notice any difference. As I mention in the article, I don’t think I’ve booted mine to WebOS for quite a few months now.

http://profile.yahoo.com/K5QPI2665JNX2VTU24QA2LDPQU Lucas

What is the battery life like with CM9 nightly?

http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal

Lucas–I’ve had what I consider pretty good luck with battery life and the recent nightlies, but experiences are all over the map (judging by reports on the HP Touchpad forum on xda-developers). I’m actually currently running an unofficial nightly/Kang of CM9 from eyeballer.

I don’t think the battery life is as good (yet) as GB and certainly not WebOS, but it is getting better. I’m waffling on answering your exact question because my TP is mostly used at home where it spends enough time in the Touchstone that I really don’t notice the battery much.

http://twitter.com/adilghanchi ADIL GHANCHI

How complicated is the process to upgrade from CM7 to CM9? I don’t want to reinstall all the apps that I have gotten from Google play and Amazon app stores.

http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal

As far as complexity, your best bet is to look through the threads in the HP touchpad forums on xda-developers and see what you think. It isn’t complicated if you already have something of an idea of how to install ROMs, but it is a little harder than just updating to a new version of CM7 (for example).

You should (unfortunately) assume you’ll need to reinstall your apps. There might be a path that doesn’t absolutely require it, but most will recommend wiping data, and certainly will tell you to wipe data if you have any issues.

It doesn’t have to be completely awful to reinstall apps. If you use an app like Titanium Backup it can really help make it less painful, and of course the Google Store and Amazon Store remember your apps to restore (although not always all your data & passwords, etc.)

So I would do it when you have some time, and can patiently test out each app afterwards, rather than heading off on a trip and realizing that some key app you rely on hasn’t been reloaded or had its data restored yet…

http://twitter.com/adilghanchi ADIL GHANCHI

Thanks for the suggestion. I will try this weekend.

Alisher Zaman

DOES ALL ANDROID APP WORK ON HP TOUCHPAD???

http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal

Alisher–There may well be some which don’t work, but I’ve got something like 150 on mine, including some pretty esoteric ones (like Photoshop Touch) and with the most recent builds of CM9 they have all worked well.

Andy9812

Thanks Dave, great article! I used the video to install CM9 Android 4.0.3 on my Touchpad and it works better then expected.

http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal

Andy–Great that it worked out, and thanks for letting us know–David

http://www.facebook.com/mirelys.calise Mirelys V. Calise

Thank you! I did follow your steps but I can’t watch movies. I can hear the voices and sound, but I can’t see the video. Is there a solution for this? Thanks!

http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal

Mirelys — Video playback gets a bit complex, as there are a bunch of different players & formats. In my experience, with the latest CM9 nightlies and the right video player & codecs, I’ve been able to play just about everything, but some players work better with some formats, etc. Some also work with non-HD but fail with HD. Searching the forums at xda-developers will likely turn up some solutions for you.

ashley

i am having difficulties with mine i think it might be my computer because when i type in the commands on my computer it says the system can’t find the path specified

manoj

Have you found the issue ?, same with me ….

http://www.facebook.com/zepres.one Ze Pres

I had the same issue which was caused by bad driver installation or not installed. After restarting the TP, you need to hold down the volume up button immediately after the screen goes dark. Your desktop will automatically install the drivers. After successfully install the drivers, then you can run the AMEInstall2.

ealfredcutie3

Hi have an hp touchpad and am tryin to install android ice cream on it for days now but stil no luck , after all the steps , go to command prompt and put in novavom boot mem:// ( ACMEInstaller2 press enter nothing happens on the touchpad all am seein is the usb sign. Can any one help me , where did I go wrong.

Rich

I had the same problem, did you move the ACMEInstaller2 to the “bin” file? if you follow the presentation and rename the files as explained and follow the directions your touch pad will react as the video, with the new OS installed. good luck

Rich

I followed all the steps, installed all the software and ran the install applications. All things appeared to go well, rebooted to the OS choices. Chose the android app, the touchpad went through all the boot sequence then stopped, screen went blank, showed the HP symbol for a moment and then returned to the OS choice menu. I do not know what when wrong, it will not boot to the android, but at least the tablet is not bricked. If anyone can help with further info as to help it would be appreciated.

martin

David I heard that rotation will not work? Is that true?

http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal

If you mean portrait/landscape, that is definitely not true. Mine for example happily rotates as I turn it around. CM has some settings which might let you say whether you want 180 and 270 or just 90, but rotation certainly works.

Rich

a little help here please. by following all the instructions in your presentation I have managed to install the software, start the process of booting into android. just as it goes into the cyanogen boot, after it boots the touchpad goes back to a HP logo boot then to the moboot option. the software I found out there does not appear to be the very same as you have in your presentation, ie- moboot is a 0.3.5 version. Since that is the only version I can find, along with the other software- will that cause the boot loop? if so, how can I find the software that will allow a full boot into android? as always any and all help is greatly appreciated.

http://www.facebook.com/tracy.avent Tracy L Avent

Some of the cyanogen install sites mentioned this symptom associated with layered images of cm7/8/9 that warned a clean install of 10 is less likely to do that.

Charlene Destefano

Android was installed ony Touchpad only problem is it will only print using g mail. I want to print my AOL email. Any suggestions?

dan

I install it. But now I can’t acces home screen or apps. I’m stuck at Google search. Any suggestions…??

Sravs Kallepalli

I couldn’t find the link in the to get started,please help me out

http://www.facebook.com/diane.aureimma Diane Auriemma

I am trying to get to proper command prompt, not working for me.Help, I have winxp

Michael Williams

I was able to convert my touchpad and love the spped and available apps I have now. However, I am unable to copy files from my PC via USB without rebooting device to WebOS where it recognizes being connected to USB. Any suggestions on what I am doing wrong?

http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal

Michael — Great that you got it converted and are enjoying it anew. I am on the road and don’t have mine with me to check on USB file transfer, but you might consider dropbox or a similar service as a short-term workaround at least.

Use of this site is governed by our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Copyright 1996-2015 Ziff Davis, LLC.PCMag Digital Group All Rights Reserved. ExtremeTech is a registered trademark of Ziff Davis, LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis, LLC. is prohibited.